You know when I was in college my first year, I never enjoyed many of the introductory lecture courses in level 101 (as they were labeled in my day). After I declared my major, the majority of classes were much better. The first year was boring and you could tell that a few of the professors may have done it 100 times before, and even they were lethargic. I listened as carefully as I could, wrote notes, and anything else needed to pay attention to the lectures. At one point I bought an “expensive” microcassette recorder with many, many tapes. Of course, I did not have my parents paying my bills so to me it was expensive, $29 in 1974. Then I could replay the lectures to review and grab info I may have missed. But man, they took hours and hours to review. By-the-way the one shown here is now $329…what? It looks identical to my old one (this is a refurbished model too)?
Smartphones and apps are available today. The college students of today are aware of all of this information and perhaps even more, but what about us grownups from a prior era? How can we make the most of our smartphones and applications to take notes during drawn-out, dull and even interesting meetings? You know the ones: timeshare offers, instructions on how to play hand and foot, along with all the other things we hear and need to remember but forget parts of afterwards.
It could be challenging to take notes during a protracted meeting. However, utilizing your smartphone and a few apps, you can stay involved, listen or read the text of the meeting later. You may also quickly search all of the information in text format.
Make sure your phone is fully charged and has enough storage space before anything else. Use the Notes app on your phone to capture important ideas and thoughts in writing.
A well-known program is Evernote.com, which allows you to classify and organize your notes so that you can find them more quickly in the future. If you choose, you can utilize Evernote to record the meeting’s audio, using dictation. The talk will be transcribed in real-time text so that you may read and search it later. Evernote is a fantastic tool, and I have used it before. But so too is OneNote.com, a comparable Microsoft product. Although I think they are similar, some would claim that one is the better choice. It’s simply my preference, but I like OneNote.
Additionally, you can use apps like Trello.com or Asana.com to create task lists or to-do lists, helping you stay on track after the meeting is over. Whatever your preferred method, using your smartphone and apps can help you take effective notes and stay engaged during even the most tedious meetings. Personally, I am a supporter of Trello as I have been using it for several years and appreciate the way it helps keep me organized.
Taking notes on your smartphone during a meeting can be quite beneficial. It is, nevertheless, critical to select an approach that works best for you. Some users prefer voice-to-text tools such as Google Docs. You can dictate to a Google Doc in real time, and it will transcribe the dialogue. I have also gotten it to work with audio recordings, but it is a pain because it is not built to do so.
Overall, using smartphone apps can help you find and recall meeting details, even if you were not as attentive as you should have been. So, give it a shot, and discover the approach that suits you the most. Maybe you just like to write them in a paper notebook which is fine too.
